


Accidental Cattification

by imaginary_golux



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Animal Transformation, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Humor, Kissing, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 17:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14025126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Rey comes home from a mission...rather changed. Poe doesn't know quite when his life got so weird.Beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Accidental Cattification

Finn comes off the transport carrying a small, sand-colored, immensely irritated-looking cat. Poe, who _was_ running forward to embrace his boyfriend, skids to a halt, staring. The cat glares back, its ears flat to its head, its eyes pinning Poe to the spot.

“...Buddy,” Poe says, blinking in confusion. “What…?”

“Kylo Ren turned Rey into a cat,” Finn says, as though that’s a completely reasonable thing to say.

“...What,” Poe says again, flatly, and the cat makes a low furious sound deep in her chest. “...Is she alright? I mean, other than being a cat?”

“Yeah,” Finn says, shrugging just a little so as not to jostle the Rey-cat too much. “She tore six kinds of hell out of his arms and face, and he was bleeding so much he couldn’t even see me when I grabbed her and ran. Got her quarterstaff, too,” he adds, as Jess comes out of the little transport holding the weapon gingerly.

“I see,” Poe says, because he’s started learning to roll with the crazy. “Well, unless you or the General can...um...un-cat her, I think we’ll probably need to wait for Luke.”

Finn gives another of those miniscule shrugs. “I figured,” he says calmly. “She can stay in our room, right?”

Poe takes a moment to marvel at the fact that he is about to agree to letting his boyfriend’s girlfriend, who is currently a cat, stay in his bedroom until she can be returned to her normal shape, and then nods firmly. “Of course, buddy,” he says.

The Rey-cat’s ears come up, just a little.

*

Rey investigates every inch of the tiny suite which is Poe’s on account of his rank, even under the bed and around the back of the refresher unit, while Finn follows her anxiously and Poe has a low-voiced, urgent conversation with BB-8. “Right!” he says triumphantly, as Rey finishes her reconnaissance and leaps neatly up into Finn’s arms again. “So! BB-8 is going to be escorting you around, Rey, to make sure you don’t get stepped on or anything, and with a little luck, he’ll be able to translate for you, too.”

Rey flicks her ears, then hops out of Finn’s arms to sniff BB-8 all over. The little droid extends one of her gripping arms, and the Rey-cat rubs her face against it, then rears up on her hind legs and _bats_ at it, and Poe and Finn watch in baffled fascination as BB-8 grabs a bit of string off of Poe’s messy desk and leads the Rey-cat in an acrobatic chase across the room.

“...How much of that is Rey, and how much is cat?” Poe asks after a long moment.

“I’m not sure,” Finn says. “I mean, clearly she knows us - and she _really_ didn’t like Kylo Ren - but…”

“I should definitely resist the urge to get someone to make me an adorable tiny hat for her, though,” Poe says, grinning, and Finn puts his forehead on Poe’s shoulder and laughs so hard Poe has to hold him upright.

*

Rey apparently decides that Finn’s shoulder is a good perch, and so when Finn and Poe go down to dinner, Finn has a tiny sand-colored cat clinging grimly to the leather of the jacket. After the first few minutes, she seems to get her balance properly, and her ears come up, and Finn stops holding himself quite so stiffly; so by the time they reach the mess hall, he doesn’t have to keep one hand held ready to catch her, and can actually get his own tray. Poe would have gotten it if he couldn’t, of course.

One of the cooks takes a long look at Rey and then ducks into the back and returns with a whole, cleaned fish. Rey makes a warbling, indescribable sound and goes vaulting off of Finn’s shoulder, lands neatly on the cook’s arm just long enough to snatch the fish from his hand, springs to the floor, and sprints across the room to the very farthest corner, under an unoccupied table, where she hunkers down over the fish, eyes glowing out of the shadows.

“...I guess we’re sitting over there,” Finn says, into the ringing silence. “Thank you for the fish.”

“You’re very welcome,” the cook says, still blinking down at his empty hand.

“Did she scratch you?” Poe asks, leaning over, and is slightly startled to find that there are no marks whatsoever on the cook’s outstretched arm. “Huh. Good control!”

“Yes,” the cook agrees, and retreats back into the kitchen at speed. Poe and Finn shrug at each other and finish collecting their dinners.

Rey is still hunkered over her fish when they reach the table, and spares a moment from tearing at it ravenously to growl a warning at them as they sit down. Poe scootches down the bench away from her. “Right, got it, not taking the fish away,” he tells the little cat soothingly. “All yours.”

The look Rey gives him is so scathing that Poe bursts into laughter. “I don’t even need BB-8 to translate _that_ for me,” he says merrily. “‘No shit it’s my fish, dumbass.’”

Finn shakes his head, chuckling. “Probably an accurate translation, yeah.”

“I didn’t actually know Force-users _could_ turn people into things,” Poe observes once they’ve gotten to the mopping-up-stray-bits-of-stew portion of dinner, and Rey has reduced the fish to clean bones and is licking her paws contentedly.

“I didn’t either,” Finn says. “I...don’t think Ren was _intending_ to turn her into a cat, if that helps.”

“It really doesn’t,” Poe says. “ _Accidental_ cattification doesn’t strike me as any less worrying than the _intentional_ kind.”

“Fair,” Finn says, and pushes back from the table to look down at Rey. “Back to the room, sweetheart?”

The Rey-cat jumps up into Finn’s lap and from there onto his shoulder, puts one paw atop his head, and begins quite seriously grooming his ear. Finn twitches, hands flailing. “What - no - sweetheart!”

“I think,” Poe says, “that that’s probably the _cat_ side of her instincts.”

“No really,” Finn says dryly, giving him a _look_. “How do I make her stop?”

Poe shrugs. “I’m not good at cats,” he admits.

BB-8, who has been off somewhere with R2-D2 if Poe guesses correctly - she doesn’t care for watching meat-people stuff their faces, and has made that very clear to Poe on several occasions - shows up and starts beeping laughter, which thankfully distracts Rey. Unfortunately, Rey apparently decides that BB-8 will make a good perch, and leaps from Finn’s shoulder to BB-8’s dome. BB-8 goes stock-still in surprise. Rey sits down, curls her tail around her feet, and looks smug.

“Alright then,” Poe says. “That...works.”

BB-8 moves a little, experimentally. Rey stays perfectly balanced, looking even smugger. BB-8 whistles in glee, and takes off for Poe’s quarters, Rey hunching down a little and mewing in apparent glee.

“...Oh Force, I hope Luke gets back soon,” Finn says after a moment.

“They’re going to be holy terrors, aren’t they,” Poe agrees. “Right. Let’s go see what havoc they’ve wrought thus far.”

“One thing first,” Finn says, as they stand, and reaches out to pull Poe close and kiss him firmly. “There. I didn’t get to do that properly earlier.”

Poe knows he’s blushing to the tips of his ears, but he laces his fingers through Finn’s as they head for the door.

The door to Poe’s quarters is open, but rather to his relief there’s no immediate evidence of chaos. Rey is curled up on Finn’s pillow, purring, and BB-8 has plugged herself in. Finn flops down on the bed - Rey grumbles as the pillow is jostled - and settles in to write up his report, and Poe settles in at his desk to finish making the patrol rosters, and for a few minutes everything is quite peaceful.

And then Rey hops to her feet and heads into the refresher, and a moment later there’s a splash and a loud irritated yowl. Poe’s head shoots up, and he meets Finn’s eyes, sharing a look of horrified comprehension, and then Finn leaps to his feet and heads into the refresher. Poe stays _well the hell_ out of it. He can hear the shower running, though, and...yeah, that’s not something anyone wants to repeat again. He taps a quick command into his datapad. By the time he can hear the sounds of a deeply irritated cat being toweled off, there’s a tap at the door, and he opens it to find one of the quartermaster-droids - QR-83, Poe thinks - holding the litterbox he’s ordered.

“ _Thank_ you,” he says, and would hug the droid if he had any hands free.

{Will Designation-Rey be restored to normal functioning soon?} QR-83 asks.

“As soon as Master Skywalker gets back, I think,” Poe assures him.

{Good,} QR-83 says, and trundles off. Poe brings the litterbox into the refresher and puts it down, trying not to laugh at Rey’s newly spiky fur. She’s sort of all bushed out from being dried, and looks deeply put out. She gives the litterbox a _very_ disgruntled look, too.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I’d rather not have to fish you out of the refresher, and I suspect Finn never wants to do that again either,” Poe says. She makes a low huffy noise, but Finn nods.

“I _really_ never want to do that again, sweetheart,” he says.

Rey lowers her ears and glares, but she nods - a very odd motion on a cat - and Poe offers Finn a hand off the floor. They leave Rey to her...business...and retreat to the main room; Finn strips off his damp shirt and is reaching for a new one when Poe pulls him into a kiss. Shirtless Finn is one of the great good things in the galaxy, so far as Poe is concerned.

They’re still kissing when Rey comes out and hops back onto Finn’s pillow. She gives them a _look_ and curls up, falling asleep almost immediately.

And promptly sort of squirms around in her sleep to reveal a _very_ soft-looking underbelly covered in pale cream fur. Finn reaches out without thinking, and Poe grabs his hand before it can make contact.

“Every cat I’ve ever met has taken _bloody chunks_ out of anyone who dared touch their bellies,” he cautions his beloved.

“...Good to know,” Finn says. “I think I’m going to be sharing your pillow tonight.”

“You know, I’m okay with that,” Poe says, grinning, and they go back to kissing, because really, what _else_ are they supposed to do after a line like that?

*

Finn falls asleep first, snuffling adorable against Poe’s shoulder, and Poe lies awake tracing the beautiful contours of his beloved’s face with his eyes, wondering, as he always does, how this wonderful person chose _him_. Rey wakes up just as Poe is starting to feel truly sleepy, and gets up with a long, back-arching impossible stretch and a yawn full of a rather distressing number of teeth, then wanders over to look down at Finn. There’s an expression on her little cat face that’s an awful lot like the one Poe knows _he’s_ wearing: utter devotion.

And then she looks up at Poe. Poe meets her eyes squarely, and - remembering what little he knows about cat body language - blinks very slowly. Rey makes a little _mrrp_ noise, blinking back just as slowly, and puts her front paws on Finn’s shoulder so she can lean over and very delicately lick the tip of Poe’s nose.

Poe swallows a laugh that would _definitely_ have woken Finn, and stretches out a hand to very gently stroke the line of Rey’s back. She’s very soft in this form, fur like a cloud.

And she purrs softly, turning her head to lick his wrist, and settles down on the pillow again, tail tucked over her nose. Feeling very daring, Poe rubs her tiny forehead, down the curve of her spine, and listens to her purring grow louder.

Poe’s never going to say it aloud, but she’s _adorable_ like this.

*

Poe wakes up before Finn, which is unusual, but yesterday was a _long_ day for Finn, so it’s understandable. He’s not at his best in the mornings, which is why it takes him a moment to figure out what he’s seeing. It looks a bit like Finn has chosen to wear a fur hat to sleep in, which Poe knows full well he was _not_ wearing when they went to bed - fairly chastely, apart from the kissing, on account of the Rey-cat sleeping on Finn’s pillow -

It’s _Rey_ , curled up around Finn’s head and purring low and contented. She raises her head just a little as Poe sits up, gives him a look through slitted eyes, and goes back to snuggling Finn’s head.

It’s possibly the cutest thing Poe’s ever seen, and he gropes for his datapad as carefully as he can, trying hard not to jostle Finn, and gets a pretty decent shot of the two of them before he carefully extricates himself from the sheets and pads into the refresher.

He comes out to see that Rey has moved down from Finn’s head to his chest, and is curled into a tiny puff of fur. He gets another picture of that, of course, and then glances at the time and winces and heads out. He’s got a scouting run with Snap, and then he and Kare need to sit down and discuss the newest recruits’ skills, so as much as he’d _like_ to lie back down with Finn and see if Rey would let him pet her, it’s not going to happen today.

Poe gets back from the scouting run rather more exhausted than he expected to be, on account of the unexpected Star Destroyer and its attendant TIE fighters, and somewhat to his surprise, Finn is waiting for him on the tarmac _without_ a cat on his shoulder. He’s grinning, though, and Poe falls into his arms without hesitation, and accepts the eager kiss Finn gives him with gratitude.

“Where’s Rey?” he asks once they come up for air.

“Luke got back. She’s meditating,” Finn says, smiling broadly. “Something about needing to learn how to not want to tear people’s faces off when she’s angry. Apparently some of the cat instincts stuck around.”

“This is different from her normal attitude how?” Poe asks, grinning, and Finn chuckles.

“More visceral, apparently,” he says.

“...Meditation sounds like a really good idea, then,” Poe concludes. Rey with _more_ visceral homicidal urges is actually fairly terrifying thought.

“Yeah,” Finn says, and then starts to grin, a crooked mischievous expression. “She asked me to give you something from her, though.”

“...Oh?” Poe asks warily.

Finn grins wider, leans forward, and very delicately licks the tip of Poe’s nose.

Poe has to sit down, he’s laughing so hard. Finn, because he is an utter darling, sits down next to him, and once Poe has calmed down a little, sticks out his tongue just a little, and Poe laughs until he cries, leaning against Finn’s shoulder and gasping for breath.

“You’re both _impossible_ ,” he says, once he can talk again.

“Yeah,” Finn replies comfortably, hauling Poe back to his feet and slinging an arm around his waist as they head into the base. “But you love us anyway.”

“Yeah,” Poe says. “I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am imaginarygolux on tumblr.


End file.
